The Chechen Wars Part II: The Wolf Feast
Added 2025-01-21 18:00:01 +0000 UTCBy the late 80s, the winding down of Soviet repressions breathed new life into Chechen separatism. They remained in the shadows, hiding behind clubs and movements, and timed their strike exceedingly well – by allying with the Yeltsin coup in 1991, they bought themselves time & goodwill.
What followed was not just a nightmare, but a national humiliation: hundreds of thousands of Russians ethnically cleansed from their homes; tens of thousands murdered, raped or enslaved. Government officials making deals with terrorists, dozens of Soviet weapon depots surrendered to separatists without a fight. Chechnya turned into a vicious tumor of crime & violence, threatening the entire Russian South.
Dudayev ruled Chechnya at gunpoint, but even the alpha wolf, a former Soviet General, could not reign in the myriad of gangs and warlords that were seizing their piece of the pie. The Russian government was indulging in crippling apathy – the oil kept flowing, shady deals made at the highest levels prevented anything from being done, all while thousands upon thousands of refugees fled Chechnya with nothing but the clothes on their back.
Part 2 of our Chechen Wars series tells the story of the blackest depths of modern Russia, our national disgrace, our forgotten martyrs. The Yeltsin regime tolerated Dudayev’s reign of terror until it couldn’t anymore – not because of any humanitarian or patriotic feeling, but because they “loved Russia” as a resource to exploit, and the pie shouldn’t get any smaller.
By the end of 1994, the Russian Army, collapsing of rot and bled dry by budget cuts, embarked on their desperate mission, never knowing whether there were more enemies at the front or in the rear…
00:00:00 - Chechen history recap
00:04:00 - 1989 and the Chechen opposition movements
00:17:10 - Dzhokhar Dudaev
00:26:00 - 1991 August coup. Galkovsky analysis
00:43:23 - Dudaev's Ichkeria. Fake avizzo scheme
00:52:00 - A quest for weapons
00:59:30 - Slavery and genocide
01:17:40 - Internal opposition to Dudaev
01:28:00 - Russian military preparations for the offensive
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Secret chat: https://t.me/+wYU_CUVU8zg0YzJi
Comments
USAID/NED funding dried up.
david fenton
2025-02-19 02:30:44 +0000 UTCWhat's going on, guys? Lots of stuff happening. We're all waiting. 🐶🐶
EJK
2025-02-18 22:30:55 +0000 UTCThank you for this episode! I could hear your souls dying as you were recounting the events, so I appreciate it wasn’t easy. I’m guessing the next episode won’t be easy either. You’re probably going to need Niccolo Soldo’s dark Balkan humour to pull through.
ap14015
2025-01-26 13:35:48 +0000 UTCGreat stuff
Auston Mills
2025-01-26 02:50:07 +0000 UTC🤣🤣🤣 why you have to say that
Andrew Martiniuc
2025-01-25 11:08:35 +0000 UTCYeah.. with these guys you have to be patient and let them educate you so you understand something with far more depth.
Andrew Martiniuc
2025-01-25 11:07:28 +0000 UTC2 episodes in and the first Chechen war is not started! But that depth of context and background is what makes RWA such an invaluable resource. Great series. And spot on about Wikipedia - a disgraceful exercise in disinformation there
Bill Daly
2025-01-25 03:48:45 +0000 UTCThanks for the reply.
Robert D
2025-01-23 18:37:13 +0000 UTCThank you. Had no idea, honestly.
Russians With Attitude
2025-01-23 18:35:15 +0000 UTCA spam attack, have to up the security.
Russians With Attitude
2025-01-23 18:33:48 +0000 UTCHi. What happened to your X and Telegram accounts?
Robert D
2025-01-23 17:16:18 +0000 UTCRWA: You guys are the best, and English speakers (well, some of us) are grateful for the content you bring us that is unavailable to us elsewhere. One gentle and very small suggestion: In the word “bombing” the “b” is completely silent, there is no hint of the “b” in spoken English. Another quirk of the language. It’s just pronounced “bomming”, and bomb is just pronounced “bom”. It’s as stupid as U.S. foreign policy with regard to Russia, but it is what it is. Spasiba for all you do.
Larry Cloetta
2025-01-23 16:37:12 +0000 UTCThe disenfranchisement of russians agers me to no end.
Andrew Martiniuc
2025-01-23 10:23:30 +0000 UTCBased.
Andrew Martiniuc
2025-01-23 10:21:30 +0000 UTCThey are always involved.
Andrew Martiniuc
2025-01-23 10:21:14 +0000 UTCMerci very interesting perspective
MP
2025-01-23 05:03:20 +0000 UTCHow was the CIA involved? I am surprised that you didn’t mention that CIA flooded Chechnya with Al qaeda from Bosnia which CIA also was secretly destabilising with Al qaeda imports
spetsnaz
2025-01-22 22:22:05 +0000 UTCMy god maybe it’s better to just entirely cleanse the whole region and resettle with settlers from Moscow and Tula?
spetsnaz
2025-01-22 22:19:03 +0000 UTCAmazing, most important podcast of the year. Really looking forward to listening this
spetsnaz
2025-01-22 20:43:20 +0000 UTCRWN had a great (and infuriating) series on the Chechen wars as well, not to mention Ames' 'Ghosts of the Caucasus' article series on the events of that time. Whatever happened to getting Ames on the show, by the way?
brrrskrrrt
2025-01-22 20:24:02 +0000 UTCHow embarrassing! Sorry, Kirill :))
Maria Land
2025-01-22 17:52:28 +0000 UTCThank you! but it's Kirill :)
Russians With Attitude
2025-01-22 17:48:05 +0000 UTCKonstantin and Nikolai, many thanks for the episode. It is breathtaking. I am so grateful for the great job you do. Can't wait for the next one. Lots of love :))
Maria Land
2025-01-22 16:16:17 +0000 UTCThis is a very intresting topic. I’m looking forward to hearing more about the combat operations in Chechnya during the 90s since I’ve always felt that so much was hidden away from me as a Swede🤔 It was always described here as “Incompetence” but still clearing an Urban center as Grozny and then proceeding with a guerrilla war in the lowlands still took a lot of ground level competence. Even if it must have been hell for all involved… Sorry for the rant😅 Looking forward to the next episode! Thank you!
Rasmus
2025-01-21 18:58:22 +0000 UTCSpaisibo for this series, I followed it extensively when I was a child and it was happening. Very difficult to get any balanced view of the timeline and events as they unfolded. Love your work brats.
Marko
2025-01-21 18:42:08 +0000 UTCGreetings from America. I hope that one day soon Putin will declare the Black Sea "Gulf of Russia. Then we can all be friends and have jointly developed pro wrestling melodrama together.
Max
2025-01-21 18:28:41 +0000 UTCThank You RWA (Nikolay and Kirill) for your Hardwork and efforts!!.. Looking forward to listen to part 2 of this series!!..
Garry H
2025-01-21 18:03:07 +0000 UTC
